A day in the French Quarter.



I had Friday off and got to spend a lovely day in the Quarter with unokhan and his partner J.

Obligatory riverboat shot. "ole man river" playing in the background...


Unokhan from the msg boards.


We met at the Napoleon House for lunch, which was both charming and delicious as usual with uno enjoying a couple of the absolutely perfect Pimm's Cups they sreve there. Then we went out to stroll around the Quarter making our first stop at a wine shop that a friend owns. Blaze gave us the grand tour of his vast collection. Then we walked along the river and through the Riverwalk shopping area, of course taking note of the new A&F pics in the store windows. Then we headed back to the Quarter taking a cut through the Canal Place mall for the A/C and the pricey shops. Spent some time in Williams Sonoma and then in the (ugh) Pottery Barn where we ogled the rather stunning manager and cast a very critical eye on the silverware. (I think most of their stuff is so tacky and over priced, especially the warped and spotty glass and cyrstal!) We walked a few more blocks to Tower Records and then went next door to the book store where I spent a lot of time in the cookbook section. There are three cheese books that I really want to get when I can afford it and I looked them over. On the way, I saw this VW van in the parking lot with a Hawaiian license plate...



Well, I guess they shipped it here; they must really love that car... Then we strolled a few more blocks to Molly's At The Market on Decatur Street.

uno and J and Molly's


Molly's is a French Quarter institution; one of those places where you are likely to run into just about anybody. At night it's popular with politicians, reporters and every sort of riff raff and everyone gets along famously. It wasn't that crowded last night, so it was quiet enough for easy conversation and there were just enough interesting types for people watching. Molly's is not a gay bar, but there were these two guys hugging and kissing. No one paid much attention, except us, and that's because we noticed that the younger of the two guys was definitely trying to pick the other guys wallet. I'm pretty sure he succeeded just as they careened out the door. We had a couple a three beers or so and spent some time trading stories and laughing, very pleasant. This is the third time these two have been here to visit and I must say they make charming company! After Molly's we parted; they were going out for dinner and I had some things I had to do at home. We will meet again today and I'll take them on a tour of the store.

I decided to walk home as the night had cooled off some and the Quarter has a special feel that time of night. I passed through the empty French Market, all the vendors had packed up for the night and I stopped to take some pics. After all these years the Quarter still has magic for me, and so many memories...





Culinary revival.

I mention earlier that I was looking at books in the cooking section of the book store. It's been years since I have had any interest in buying or reading books about food; I was just tired of it all. My work now has inspired me and I am beginning a new period of research; it's exciting and energizing and fantastic. This makes me happy.

durlx

--anybody guess who the mystery voice on Ford's Few Minutes was? hehe.

Friday's Trip to NOMA



The teapot exhibit was a bit of a disappointment, much of the 17th century stuff was all pretty much the same and a bit drab with a remarkable amount of cracked and repaired crockery in the mix. There were a few very nice things, (one teapot in particular was so barouque looking that you could easily imagine it crawling across the table when your back was turned!), but most of it was ho hum. And on the way out, there was this gold lettered signage on the wall that gave credit to the sponsors that mentioned the Twinnings Conpany! A somehow fitting ending to this somewhat tacky exhibit.

However, the other special exhibit, A Brush with History: Paintings from the National Portrait Gallery, (which included the portrait of Lena Horne above) was really wonderful! It was amazing for several reasons: the historical documentation was very good, there was a wide variety of portraits that included people in politics, film, music, art and writing, and the portraits were painted by some very wonderful painters. In many cases, they were superlative works by the artist, and certainly better than what is in NOMA's permanent collection. NOMA is not a big museum, but they try to have something by everyone important and what that something is depends on the donors of course. So, the Picasso's are sort of scraps, in fact most of the "major" artists are meagerly represented, there are no major paintings by the big guys, with the exception of Odd Nerdrum... the museum owns one of his major works.

So, it was interesting to see a portrait painted by Degas, for instance, that was a far better picture than anything in the recent Degas special exhibit. And a Jamie Wyeth portrait that he painted at the age of sixteen... and so on. Over all, it was a better representation of the history of art in general than the museum is able to present in its permanent collection. It was a totally enjoyable collection of pictures that informed with equal interest about the subject and the artist. (Some favs; Elsa Maxwell, Marlene Dietrich, Lena Horne, actually, there were so many!) And not a single spelling mistake in the entire exhibit!

The Sunday Morning Coffee Group.

I've never really talked about this before, but there's this Sunday morning coffee group that my friend Virgil hosts almost every Sunday morning, and he's been doing it for years. I have attended from time to time, but over the years when I was working crazy long restaurant hours, the 9 AM-ish starting time seemed to be difficult. And it was funny, I was watching "Lonely Hearts Club" one night a few weeks ago, and also QAF on another night and thinking, "I wish I had some friends who got together regularly to talk about things..." Well, I do have that! I had just let my work eat up my life to the point where I forgot about the fact that I had a group. It's nice to be home again...

George, (who has appeared in this journal before) and Virgil, ( our host).


Now I must tell you that there is something about Virgil's kitchen that seems to inhibit great photography! hehe.

Robert, (his back to you) and George, smiling for the camera.


An artist and set designer, and fellow photo journalist.
(whom I didn't get permission to name, but she is amazing...


It's always an interesting bunch. Over the 2 to 3 hours we spend together drinking coffee and eating sweets we covered the latest news, gossip, and personal foibles. This ayem, the topics of discussion included local political scandals, skin diseases and nervous disorders, personal sexual experiences, legal and medical topics from a personal point of view, what everyone's pets did during the week and what was good or bad about movies, television and growing up. It's a wonderfully entertaining core group, witty and sharp, well educated. There are a couple of professors that show up from time to time to elevate the level of the discussion and some people that stop by while they are visiting the town. And, btw, visitors are always welcome...

Why Do They Call It Work.

I've been working in the specialties department all this week, and will do the same this coming week. And I've decided to stay with specialties. I've enjoyed cooking in the prepared foods dept. for a while, it's easy for me, it's what I know and I am very good at it. But I've found that I enjoy being able to work around a fabulous cheese counter (including some incredible natural sliced meats), and a very good coffee and tea section, and and very good wine and imported beer area. I get to spend a lot of my day talking to people who are excited about food and I get to taste things with them and discuss, compare, contrast and sometimes just gush about how wonderful something is!

On the weekends, our market is a destination for people around the area. People come from across the lake, from Baton Rouge,and many people who are just visiting come in because they know us from where they live; they come to find things that will amaze them. And I have those things in my department! I get to chat about what would be right for a dinner party or what cheese or wine (or perhaps a dessert wine) would work for a menu, or how something would work in a recipe. And, there are lots of gay men that come to shop. It's very sweet to have the full attention of an absolutely gorgeous man when I am talking to him passionately about... Manchego with Rosemary! Hehe!

This continues to be a fascinating experience...

durlx



PeeEss: I am a few days late with this entry, my usual day is Friday. I was very much concerned with my decision about which area I would focus on at work and I did have two days of utter exhaustion, and for a while, I just didn't care about doing the journal. It's strange sometimes: doing this journal gives me great pleasure, I would do it if no one was reading it I think, but I am a social animal and crave your comments. whine, whimper, pathetic mewlings... he har. Your comments or e-mails are greatly appreciated and answered... and send me pictures!